


January 2259: Where Are We Going, And Why Are We In This Handbasket?

by pallasite



Series: Behind the Gloves [84]
Category: Babylon 5, Babylon 5 & Related Fandoms
Genre: Backstory, Bigotry & Prejudice, Canon Compliant, EarthDome, Episode: s02e02 Revelations, Essays, Fix-It, Gen, How canon misled you, Interplanetary Expeditions | IPX, Law, Politics, Psi Corps, Shadows (Babylon 5) - Freeform, Telepath Law (Babylon 5), The Corps Was Right, The Psi Corps tag is mine, The Shadow Conspiracy, This is the book you've wanted since the '90s, Worldbuilding, telepaths
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-29
Updated: 2017-11-29
Packaged: 2019-02-08 00:09:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,183
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12852477
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pallasite/pseuds/pallasite
Summary: President Santiago's ship exploded, and VP Morgan Clark became president. Then another scandal broke on the heels of this tragedy - a massive scandal that was all over the news back on Earth, and all over the 'nets - but you probably missed it, because it was barely mentioned (in "Revelations"). It is, however, tremendously important, especially for telepaths. Indeed, it put all of their lives, and livelihoods, in sudden jeopardy.This is what the writers didn't tell you, and why it matters.I'm including this piece here so that readers will have the background to understand one of the rogue telepath allegations inA Race Through Dark Places.The prologue ofBehind the Glovesishere- please read!





	January 2259: Where Are We Going, And Why Are We In This Handbasket?

**Author's Note:**

> What is this series? Where are the acknowledgements, table of contents and universe timelines? See [here](http://archiveofourown.org/works/10184558/chapters/22620590).
> 
> If you like _Behind the Gloves_ and would like to send me an email, I can be reached at counterintuitive at protonmail dot com. Do you have questions? Would you like to tell me what you like about this project? Email me!
> 
> I also have an [ask blog](https://behind-the-gloves.tumblr.com/), a [writing blog](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/pallasite-writes), and a "P3 life" Tumblr [here](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/p3-life) with funny anecdotes. :)

Garibaldi: "Remember the big scandal about the Corps endorsing Vice President Clark?"

Sheridan: "Sure, it was big news. Made all the nets. Their charter prohibits recommending candidates to their members."

Garibaldi: "Exactly. Now, Jack didn't admit anything, but he did say the Home Guard wasn't behind President Santiago's assassination. But what if it was the Psi Corps? What if they wanted someone in office who was sympathetic to the Corps? Before Earthforce One exploded, the vice president got off at Mars, saying he had the flu. That's pretty convenient, isn't it?"

\-----

As I explained in [Morgan Clark As Tragic Hero?](http://archiveofourown.org/works/10541994):

          "Clark, when he was VP, had, with the help of the Shadows, assassinated President Santiago and become President himself (Chrysalis). He had instituted martial law. He had created the Nightwatch, a fascist paramilitary organization. His regime had taken over all official media outlets on the planet, and arrested journalists. ... After the death of Santiago and Clark's rise to the presidency (Chrysalis), the then-director of the Corps, York (Johnston's successor) _officially endorsed Clark for president_ (Revelations), thus violating a key provision in the Psi Corps Charter that the Corps must, at all times, remain neutral in matters of normal politics. Panic broke out on Earth, and all media outlets covered the stories for days (Revelations).

          "Recall that the charter was the only thing standing between telepaths and the pogroms of the century before - and now the director had ripped it to shreds and used it for toilet paper. The normal population blamed "telepaths" for this grievous transgression - to them, the Corps was opaque, monolithic, and likely corrupt. Few normals understood the inner workings of the Corps, how decisions were made in the Corps, and the extent of normal control in the Corps. To them, one telepath was the same as the next, and none were ever to be trusted, other than conditionally.

          "Telepaths, recall, were only "tolerated" because the charter had been upheld by telepaths (i.e. Psi Cops) on their own people (by force when necessary), so this violation brought everything into question once more - even strained coexistence. Telepaths panicked. York's decision was not their own, he was not their "elected leader" - he was appointed by the Senate, for life. If he had blatantly violated the charter, and the Senate hadn't removed him or even sanctioned him, it could only mean that the Senate was _in on it_.

          "They were. It was only a matter of time, now, until war."

\-----

While Clark did have telepaths working for him, either sympathetic to him or under duress, "the Corps" wasn't behind Santiago's assassination. The Shadow conspiracy in EarthGov was behind it.

As Bester's former cadremate, Brett Naumann, reveals to Bester with regards to the Shadow conspiracy and who is involved in it, taking over the Corps from within and sabotaging everything the Corps stands for (Deadly Relations, p. 200-201):

          "It's a matter of control, Al. In the old days, Cadre Primers were placed in strategic positions. The low-level ones became instructors, but the P12s went on to high command. Now there's a black box out there that they won't let any of us into. Because we're all suspect. Do you know how many of us have died?"

          "No."

          " _Most_ of us, Al. Milla's gone. And Menno. Ekko. And I went back through the older generations. You met Natasha Alexander once?"

          "Yes. Here, on Mars. She was the commander of Department Sigma."

          "One of the first from Cadre Prime, and her mother and her mother's mother were both in the Metasensory Regulation Authority before it became Psi Corps. She was assassinated. She used to be Vacit's aide, did you know that? No Primers in Department Sigma, Al. Or in top Admin. She was in the black box and so they got her out. You should have been promoted all the way to the top, years ago. You know it, I know it.

          "Oh, they let you have your Black Omega Squadron to keep you busy, but you know you're still on the outside. You have to. I should be higher up, too, though I never had the ambition you did. They've held us down, Al. And if they ever think they can't, they'll kill us."

          "They? Who is _they_?" Al demanded angrily. Montoya had spoken of _they_.

          **"Johnston and his cronies, his pet telepaths, laters all - And behind them, a select group of senators, governors, industrialists - IPX especially. Mundanes, Al, mundanes. They're taking it away from us. From our children."** [Emphasis mine] He grabbed Al's arm. "Don't you know why Sandoval Bey was killed? You were his friend, don't you want to know?"

          "Enough!" Al shouted. Despite his full-throated roar, his voice was surrealistically thin in the Martian air. "What are you here for? Are you trying to talk me into some kind of revolution? Assuming all you say is true, you think the two of us can just-"

          But Brett was shaking his head. "No, Al. I'm just trying to save your life. I've already given up on mine."

\-------

This account is later corroborated by what a young telepath (Timothy Jackson), coerced into assisting the conspiracy, reveals voluntarily to Bester in a secret hollowed-out asteroid (Deadly Relations, p. 239-240):

          "Sir-" His voice trembled. "Sir, I'm scared of them."

          "Of course."

          "They - they found something on Mars. A ship."

          "I know about the ship, Timothy. I know one man touched it and died - know a telepath touched it and went insane. I know that when it was excavated, another ship just like it came and took it away. But whose ship was it, Timothy? What race? And what do they have to do with my people?"

          "Sir, I don't know. You have to believe that."

          "I can't afford to believe it. You know that."

         **"They're all tied up with IPX, and EarthGov, like you said. I've seen EarthForce officers, and an aide to Vice President Clark-"** [Emphasis mine]

          "The aliens," Bester softly reminded him.

          "Interplanetary Expeditions tracked their ship out to the rim, a planet called Alpha Omega 3. They plan to send an archaeological team to investigate. That's all I know."

          Bester nodded, sadly. "I believe you, son." Then he hit him with a hard scan.

          Jackson hadn't lied, but the scan gave him more details. Faces of the IPX men, some of whom he recognized. The aide connected to Clark. More detail to help him flesh out the cabal, but not much more. No, everything really useful had come from the boy's mouth, sad to say.

\-----

Garibaldi is, as always, a paranoid, teep-hating bigot. After asking Talia to leave the room, he says the following:

"I just didn't want her to hear this. I trust her, as much as I trust any telepath, but she's still Psi Corps."

(Yes, "all the telepaths" are in on it, whatever "it" is.)

Sheridan: "What does the Corps have to do with this?"

Garibaldi: "I've been thinking about this salute Jack gave me in his cell. Same as that Psi Cop Bester gave. It's like he was rubbing my nose in something he knew I could never prove. Remember the big scandal about the Corps endorsing Vice President Clark?"

Sheridan: "Sure, it was big news. Made all the nets. Their charter prohibits recommending candidates to their members."

Garibaldi: "Exactly. Now, Jack didn't admit anything, but he did say the Home Guard wasn't behind President Santiago's assassination. But what if it was the Psi Corps? What if they wanted someone in office who was sympathetic to the Corps? Before Earthforce One exploded, the vice president got off at Mars saying he had the flu. That's pretty convenient, isn't it?"

\-----

And from then on, show itself gives viewers _no hint whatsoever_ that his "theory" that the Corps was behind it all is actually... bullshit. His only "evidence" is that two people saluted the same way, but hey... I've told you already the show isn't being honest with you.

But there is a Shadow conspiracy in EarthGov, and the director of the Corps (at this point Johnston's successor) is in on it, and actively emptying out Corps prison camps and selling the inmates as "weapons components" to the Shadows ( _Ship of Tears_ ). As much as Garibaldi has concluded in his paranoid mind that Bester is _part_ of this conspiracy, Bester is actually actively working _against_ it, and always has been. He even assassinated Director Johnston in an (unsuccessful) effort to stop it.

Now, what happened in January 2259? Why are telepaths across the EA asking themselves:

"Where are we going, and why are we in this handbasket?"

In 2115 and the years that followed, Senator Lee Crawford of Texas whipped up telepath hysteria around the globe in order to [benefit himself politically](http://archiveofourown.org/works/10292036). He established the Metasensory Regulatory Authority and worked his whole career to make it universal across Earth Alliance space, segregating telepaths from the rest of the population, registering them with the government, and stripping them of a large range of social, political and legal rights. In 2156, after the Centauri landed, then-president Elizabeth Robinson transformed the MRA into the [independently-chartered Psi Corps](http://archiveofourown.org/works/10382478) that, by 2259, has remained legally unchanged for (just over) a hundred years.

Though the Corps operates in some ways as a pseudo-state, running its own schools, police, prisons, hospitals, and other social infrastructure, it is legally a _regulatory authority and[agency of EarthGov](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independent_agencies_of_the_United_States_government)._ (See the link if you are unfamiliar with federal agencies/administrative law in the United States, upon which this is founded.)

The Corps' budget comes entirely from the EA Senate, overseen by the Committee for Metasensory Abilities. (See Dylan's story [here](http://archiveofourown.org/works/10751193/chapters/23837547) for a scene showing what this committee is, how they operate, and what they do.) And the Corps exists pursuant to a charter - a charter that was, in reality, _forced upon the telepath population_ , a "social contract" under which telepaths would have to abide by the terms of the "contract," or the normals Just Might Wipe Them All Out.

This is what I discussed at length in the first [Mini History Lesson](http://archiveofourown.org/works/10292036). This is what Bester describes at his trial, a history that the prosecutor admits that "everyone knows," but no one cares too much about, because it supports the (unjust) systems of power (social, legal and political) that benefit normals and oppress telepaths. No one (among normals) really thinks seriously about this caste system - it's only good, right, proper, natural, and _necessary_ that telepaths be oppressed in this way! And "it's always been this way!"

And canon, being sneaky, barely mentions any of this history in the show itself (there's just that one line in _A Race Through Dark Places_ , as far as I am aware), and also leaves this entirely history out of the canon books, at least in any even semi-coherent fashion, until the very end of Final Reckoning, in a short section (no more than five pages) offering readers a clip of Bester's trial at the Hague.

They're not telling you what's going on, so _I'm telling you_ what's going on.

Only some of the Psi Corps charter's provisions are explicitly given in canon:

  * The director must be a mundane,
  * He or she serves for life (or at the discretion of the Senate), and
  * The Corps must remain neutral in matters of normal politics (e.g. not endorse political candidates).



That last provision plays out very interestingly throughout EA history - for instance, this is why [Marsie telepaths had food during the Mars Food Riots](http://archiveofourown.org/works/10903194) of 2251, while normals on the planet starved. I have a lot to say about the "political neutrality" provision and how it played out over the years (both in the lives of individual telepaths, as in the life of Dylan Valle in chapters 2 and 3 of the story [here](http://archiveofourown.org/works/10751193/chapters/23837298), as well as in larger-scale incidents), and I have a lot to say about how this provision fits hand-in-hand with the other political restrictions normals placed on telepaths (e.g. the ban on telepaths from running for or holding political office), but I leave those for other essays and stories.

Also of importance is that under the terms of the charter, the director of the Corps has also been granted _absolute power_ over the life and death of any telepath in the Corps - that's how, when Johnston came to power (as Brett explains in that scene), he killed or exiled everyone in telepath leadership who had worked for Vacit or been raised in the Corps.

He didn't like you? He killed you.

And it was entirely legal.

Not "the Corps killing telepaths" - the mundane director killing telepaths.

(The Senate probably included this power because as always, they didn't trust telepaths, and as always, they saw them as potentially plotting to Take Over The World, so clearly at the end of the day, a mundane had to be given the absolute power to kill anyone and everyone he saw fit, for any reason at all, to "keep telepaths in check." To the mundane scum who run the world, that's not tyranny, but PROTECTING THE WORLD FROM TYRANNY. Of course. ...More on that later, when we get to the court system! I've got a _good one_ coming up there.)

The rest is implied - telepaths have to follow normal law. What that means is spelled out elsewhere in canon: They can't leave EA space. They can't hold most jobs. They have to be registered at birth, and remain registered for their whole lives. They can't serve on juries or as judges. They must identify themselves in public with black leather gloves and psi insignia badges. They may not serve in the military. They may only live where normals permit them to live.

There are restrictions on how they may use their minds, restrictions on their testimony in court, restrictions on their political speech.

And telepaths must enforce these laws on each other, by force if necessary.

That's their "end of the bargain."

Another key feature of the charter, however, is also not mentioned (until it's too late):

  * The charter (and with it, the existence of the Corps itself) can be revoked by vote of the Earth Alliance Senate in response to a violation of the charter by telepaths.



This is why the Psi Cop in Dylan's story is so worried about his presence at the political rally and the poster on his door - the actions of every individual telepath are seen as representative of the Corps as a whole, and if any telepath appears to violate the charter, it could put the whole community of ten million people at risk.

Naturally, that would never happen because just one man put a poster on his door. It's the collective behavior of telepaths that the Psi Cop is worried about - if everyone started doing it, then there may be real trouble.

But something far worse happens.

In _Revelations_ , the director of the Corps (a mundane, as mandated by law) actually _does_ violate the charter - directly and flagrantly. He comes out on TV and says that "the Corps" is endorsing Clark for president, and that sends the Earth Alliance (normals and telepaths alike) into a panic.

"IS THE PSI CORPS CHARTER DEAD?"

That's why this was a "big scandal," all over the news back on Earth, all over the 'nets. That's why this is all they talked about for _days_ , maybe _weeks_ back home. (Not that the show is telling you this, since they're out in space, spinning around in circles.)

Logically, the Senate should have thrown York out on his ass and replaced him with someone who would uphold the charter. But they didn't. They were _also_ neck-deep in the conspiracy with the Shadows. They let it stand - and in so doing, signaled to the telepath population that their time was running out. Mundanes had taken the one document that protected telepaths from unfettered chaos and violence, ripped it up, and used it for toilet paper.

The conspiracy, of course, was planning to "solve the problem" by selling all the telepaths to the Shadows, ridding Earth of the "telepath problem" once and for all, via genocide. Most telepaths, however, knew absolutely nothing about the alien plot, and just could see that sooner or later, unless the Senate reversed course, war was coming. (Because obviously, telepaths would have to defend themselves.) Even Bester didn't know the full details of the conspiracy yet - he didn't find out about the sale of telepaths to the Shadows until shortly before _Ship of Tears_.

Normals, on the other hand, panicked for entirely different reasons - they, as always, saw the Corps as an opaque, scary, monolithic agency that operated in the shadows of EarthGov, always on the edge of subversion and sabotage of EarthGov, part of some secret plot to Take Over The World. To them, the director (though a mundane, by law), spoke for "all telepaths," and so if he violated the charter, _any and all telepaths could also be in on it_. All the fears, prejudices and hatreds that bubbled under the surface came right to the top.

THE CORPS HAS TAKEN OVER EARTHGOV! THE CORPS HAS ASSASSINATED THE PRESIDENT! WE HAVE TO ABOLISH THE CORPS TO SAVE HUMANITY!

The Corps was hanging by a string, and the Senate had a scissors on that string, poised to snip.

(Sure, after a week or so, when nothing happened - yet - the news cycle moved into other things, but this underlying fear - and the underlying charter violation - remained.)

To normals, that fear was "the telepaths are going to take over the WORLD!"

To telepaths, the concerns were much more realistic: If the Corps were abolished, with it wouldn't come "telepath freedom," but the sudden, catastrophic loss of _everything_ : Jobs, housing, schools, hospitals, police, prisons, pensions, benefits, the employment union... EVERYTHING. The result would be mass poverty, pogroms, and loss of life. It would be "open season" for violence against telepaths everywhere. Meanwhile, telepath schools would close: normal schools would never accept these children, and they would be uprooted from their cadres and communities and dropped off at the doorsteps of parents who in some cases had never even met them, with siblings they also didn't know, and left in the hands of these biological parents who would now have to support them - even with no jobs or a vast cut in wages, and no way to pay the rent.

Chaos.

\-----

[Emily felt her frustration rising.](http://archiveofourown.org/works/10153487) She took a deep breath. Under the lip of the table, where she’d placed her hands in her lap, she clenched them into fists. The war had cost her almost everything – her job, her home, the company of her lover – but it hadn’t taken her pride.

“I don’t care what’s true!” the publisher interrupted, his voice raising nearly to a shout. “I care what I can sell!”

“Then I’ll go to another publisher. And another. And if they won’t take it, I’ll publish it myself.” She pushed the chair in, stepped to the door, and reached for the handle. Then she glanced back and looked Yates in the eye. “The truth will prevail. I’m patient, Mr. Yates. The day will come.”


End file.
